Summer ticks on and the good movies are starting to roll out

Movie buzz

Hancock (release July 2, 2008; click here for preview) – I feel like I might have written about this before but I have to say that at this point in his career, pretty much everything Will Smith does is sweet. Here Smith plays the titular character – an alcoholic superhero whose image is so tarnished that he hires a PR person (Jason Bateman) to revive his superhero acclaim. Along the way Smith falls for Bateman’s wife (Charlize THeron) and battles extreme odds with Superman-like powers to save the city. Will Smith + humor + superheroes = gold.

The Wackness (release July 3, 2008; click here for preview) – This flick has been generating a lot of buzz and I can see why – it looks different – almost like of Brick and Juno were smashed together, but completely different. Josh Peck plays a dope dealer who develops a crush on his therapist (Ben Kingsley)’s daughter (Olivia Thirbly). The rest of the cast is pretty interesting too but I am particularly excited to see what Thirbly can do on her own legs – and I think she’s gonna do great.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army (release July 11, 2008; click here for preview) – Few movies that don’t yield huge box office results – especially comic book ones – return all of the main characters and creative forces (including the director). Did I mention that the director made it big (del Toro’s Pan’s Labyrinth)? But the story brought them all back and an underrated flick that was a lot of fun has a sequel that looks even better.

Movie fuzz

Journey to the Center of the Earth (release July 11, 2008; click here for preview) – Cue clichéd action narrator – show Brendan Frasier in stereotypical Mummy pose and voila! We have Journey to the Center of the Earth? There was a time when I really enjoyed Frasier’s movies (a very short period when I saw only Blast from the Past and Mummy) but now he’s trying too hard to be Harrison Ford. And despite an action-hero trilogy of his own, he’s far behind Ford.

TV buzz

This probably isn’t buzz – or at least new buzz – but The Office is sweet. Someone turned me onto it and suddenly I was taken in – I watched the whole first season in one sitting. And I’m totally psyched to see the rest. It’s great to see Carrell really in his element, instead of (usually) floundering in an over-large film starring role.

What do you think about…

Guy Ritchie? You probably loved his first two flicks (Lock Stock and Snatch), were disappointed by his collaboration with his wife (Swept Away) and annoyed by his seeming disappearance from American cinema (Revolver was not released in US theatres). However, his upcoming flick, RockNRolla seems like its more what we expect from Ritchie – slick, fast, clever action flicks with a punch and some laughter. The trailer (click here) looks sweet. So, give him another chance? He sure as hell knows how to cut a trailer.

On the web

The top 30 animated flicks – Always behind the curve and trend setting of SaltyStix is Yahoo! Movies. Their list is obviously longer than theirs with the notable inclusion of a Tim Burton stop-go-animated flick, The Night Before Christmas, which I never liked as a kid but like a little bit now – I guess it is a different kind of animation.

The AFI’s mistakes – Again following the sterling example of SaltyStix’ coverage of the AFI selections is IFC who have a podcast of their critique of the AFI list. They get at issues we raised here a week ago in relation to AFI’s definition of “genre” and some of their top selections.

10 ways to be a better critic – Something we all can learn from – this is a very long, comprehensive article that uses lots of examples to teach a lot.

Um…really?

There are other movies opening against The Dark Knight?

Who am I?

Raider turned assassin
Send your reply to aaron.saltystix@gmail.com
Last Buzz’s answer was Anne Hathaway

-- Written by Aaron --

 

Could “Avatar” Win Best Picture?

By Brett Hogan

 

Last week, the trailer for James Cameron’s sci-fi experiment “Avatar” debuted. While initially unimpressed with the teaser, I began to wonder: Could this film win best picture? 

 

Buzz has been generating for this movie for years. Years. The technology to make this movie didn’t exist when Cameron conceived it, so he invented it. When is the last time you heard of a director spearheading the invention of anything? The casting started in 2005. Most movies these days, even epics, are done in half that time. I could go on. 

 

The most important thing to take away from all of this is that people are saying this will be the future of movies. Now, I don’t agree with the idea that CGI will become more prevalent than it already is. But I do believe that this will set the bar miles higher for sci-fi. I mean, that is what Titanic did. And that won some awards if memory serves.

 

I’ll bet you’re asking yourself, how can you even suggest that a film like this will win Best Picture when the initial trailer was nothing better than visual stimulation? Well, there are a couple of reasons. First, the Academy has expanded Best Picture to ten films. This doesn’t guarantee anything other than improved chances for most films on the cusp.

 

Second, after last year’s Oscars debacle, which saw the best film of the year, “The Dark Knight,” not only get shafted in awards but nominations as well, the Academy is pulling out all the stops to appease those with the loudest voices in the film industry, the fanboys. Now, the Academy probably didn’t lose anything because of that other than some viewers of the award show. Perhaps if people are again outraged with the winners or nominees, the heads of the Academy would lose their jobs. So this is all about the Academy protecting itself, which is not so outrageous.  

 

 

Third, there is an economic motive here. I’ve heard this film will cost $190 million, not counting the R&D costs associated with Cameron’s inventions or the cost of getting 3-D cameras into every theater in the country. The Academy will do everything in its power to get people into the seats and make this the next “Titanic” or “The Dark Knight.” But the Academy doesn’t have much power, besides nominating and awarding, so they will slap the “Nominated for Best Picture” moniker onto every commercial and print ad to get the people who didn’t believe the critics to relent and see this movie.

 

Of course, all of this is pure conjecture, and no revolutionary film (Terminator 2, Jurassic Park, etc.) has ever won the Best Picture category because it changed the game. Except maybe Titanic. But still, could this movie actually win? My answer is no but a nomination is certain and who knows what could happen from there. We’ll know more come February 2010.